Wednesday, March 23, 2005

If you're looking for a bright spot in the maelstrom, consider the several ways in which elements of the GOP appear to be poised for a rift.

In today's New York Times, Adam Nagourney tells us that not all Republicans--nor all conservatives, for that matter--are cheered by Congress's trampling of the Constitution in the Terri Schiavo case:

"This is a clash between the social conservatives and the process conservatives, and I would count myself a process conservative," said David Davenport of the Hoover Institute, a conservative research organization. "When a case like this has been heard by 19 judges in six courts and it's been appealed to the Supreme Court three times, the process has worked - even if it hasn't given the result that the social conservatives want. For Congress to step in really is a violation of federalism."

Several days ago, the Washington Post's E.J. Dionne, Jr., wrote of another tear in the making--between Tom DeLay's most loyal soldiers and religious conservatives:

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's ethics troubles threaten more than his own political future. They have the potential to create a much wider scandal over lobbying on the Indian gambling issue and to open a rift among socially conservative Republicans.

About Me

Adele M. Stan is a journalist and editor whose work has appeared in The New Republic, the Village Voice, The Nation, The Advocate, Salon.com, the Washington Blade and Mother Jones magazine, as well as on the op-ed pages of the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle and the New York Daily News. She began her media career at Ms. magazine, where she served both on staff and as a contributing editor.
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